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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Aside from ruffles, my other new found interest is fabric flowers. I've been surfing blogs checking out all the tutorials for embellished "JCrew" or "Anthropologie" tshirt knock-offs. I found this tutorial here and then this one by Sachiko at Tea Rose Home and I knew this was one of those things I had to try. I got two shirts at Old Navy off the clearance rack ($3-$4!). I combined the two methods in that I made my shirt more like the first design but I made my flowers like Sachiko and sewed them together before I put them on my shirt instead of bunching and sewing as I went. I added one thing- I thought they were kind of plain when I first layed them out on the shirt, so I sewed on three small pearl beads to each flower center before sewing them on my shirt. Here is my take:

Maybe the flowers are not as full as they could have been, but I'm happy with it.

Sorry about the photos. The true color of the shirt is the last one. Someone decided not to use a flash in the first two.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

I've gotten into ruffles lately. If I let myself, I'd have ruffles on every new piece of clothing I bought (or made- I'm learning to do that.) It's a lazy afternoon so I've been playing around with the Etsy treasury feature. Here's one I made of "ruffled" items.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

I took a few days off work this past week and had a stay-cation. I did not travel, but rather worked on some projects that were on my list of things to do. These are some of my projects:

1. Ruffled t-shirt- As I mentioned in a previous post, I'd like to learn to sew. I've been following some blogs and how to's and decided to try to embellish my own t-shirt with ruffles. I got two in the same color from Old Navy off the clearance for $3-$4. This is my finished shirt. I used the tutorials found here and here.

2. Photo album scrapbook- I put my grandparents' 50th wedding album in a scrapbook. (Prior to learning about scrapbooking, the photos were in one of those horrible magnetic albums. We pulled them out and for years they have been in a box waiting to go in another album). It's not a traditional scrapbook but a scrapbook nonetheless. If you have not heard about photo album scrapbooking, you can check it out here. It is a great way for a beginner to ease into scrapbooking and for a seasoned scrapper to save some time.

Here a shot of the inside of my book:

3. Purse organizer- This certainly isn't pretty or sewn very professionally, but it is working for me. I did not have the right kind of interfacing and we do not have a sewing/fabric shop here, so I had to modify the tutorial to use what I had. An example and tutorial can be seen here.

4. Pie safe- This is my grandmother's. My grandfather built it shortly after they married in 1937. So.. it's 70+ years old. I inherited it. The bottom had a milky film on it that I could never get cleaned. I check with an antique store a couple of years ago and they recommended using the finest grain steel wool and simple green cleaner. I kept putting this off because I was afraid to try it but finally did it! It's clean! I used clorox green works cleaner instead of simple green and lightly applied it with a cloth rather than spraying directly on the wood. Hopefully someone can use this tip.

I did not make any cards this week. I don't have time to pursue too many hobbies at once, so I took some time to pursue some other interests. I'll still be making cards, but it may be less frequently because I still have some other projects to try. And I have five boxes of cards that need a home.

Thanks for stopping by. What other interests have you pursued lately? I'd love to see. Leave me a link to your projects, tips or patterns.

Friday, June 4, 2010

So, I've posted some giveaways this week (while I've taken a break from card making- more on that later) and here is another one for a super cute handmade dress from Ruffles and Roses.

Go to this post to enter. I've started following sewing a bit and this is a great blog to visit. My grandmother sewed and I took a class and made some wearable pieces in high school. I just dropped it and now I'm taking up the interest again. Well, really my husband took over my machine and made a pair of mesh pants and a shirt for a costume he's making and IF HE CAN DO IT, so can I. That's sort of motivated me.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Well, at least a chance to win. Check out this giveaway from Favecrafts for a sewing project book. I've held on to a stash of material and scraps from my grandmother forever and now I'm finally getting interested in using them.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Good morning, I hope everyone had a great weekend and holiday. I've extended mine by taking vacation! Wow! Something I never do for an extended period. I plan to do lots of projects that are on the "one day I'll do that" list- you know, not even the to do list, but the one in the way back of the mind- one day I'll get to that, THAT collection of cool ideas to try...

Anyway, as you may have noticed, blogging is not on that list so the posts may be sparse. I did want to share this. I love e-books and will download a free one in a heartbeat. I have some interest in photography, at least in improving my own personal shots. So here is free e-book download for you- Better Photography in 3 steps from Lemon and Raspberry.

About Me

Hi. I'm Fonda, and I love stamping and scrapbooking, crafting, decorating, and cooking. I work full time, which seriously cuts into my crafting time, LOL, but hey, I've got to have a way to fund this hobby. When I'm not working, I'm playing with crafty stuff. Thanks for visiting me.